1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an oven. More particularly, to an oven having a partition unit to partition a cooking space into a plurality of independent cooking chambers wherein the partition unit includes a heat-insulating structure to prevent heat transfer between the respective cooking chambers, whereby several kinds of food are cooked at optimum temperatures in the respective cooking chambers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional ovens are classified into a microwave oven to cook food using microwaves, an electric oven to cook food using an electric heater, and a gas oven to cook food using gas heat. Each oven includes a plurality of partitions mounted in a cooking space, which is partitioned into a plurality of independent cooking chambers by the partitions, whereby several kinds of food is simultaneously cooked, and therefore, cooking time is reduced.
An example of ovens each having a plurality of cooking chambers partitioned by a plurality of partitions is disclosed in Korean Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-0002432.
The above-mentioned conventional oven includes upper, middle, and lower shelves, by which a cooling space of the oven is vertically partitioned into a plurality of cooking chambers, and magnetron assemblies and electric heaters mounted at the side surfaces and the upper part of the cooling chambers, respectively, whereby several kinds of food are simultaneously cooked.
In the conventional oven with the above-stated construction, however, each of the shelves to partition the cooking chambers does not include a heat-insulating structure. As a result, heat transfer is performed between the respective cooking chambers. Consequently, it is difficult to maintain the respective cooking chambers at optimum temperatures, and therefore, it is difficult to cook food under optimum cooking conditions.
When food to be cooked at a relatively high temperature and food to be cooked at a relatively low temperature are simultaneously cooked, for example, heat is transferred from the cooking chamber where the food is cooked at the high temperature to the cooking chamber where the food is cooked at the low temperature via the corresponding shelf. As a result, the temperature of the cooking chamber where the food is cooked at the low temperature is increased. Consequently, the food is not cooked at the optimum temperature.
Furthermore, when food is cooked in one of the cooking chambers, heat is transferred to the other cooking chambers where food is not being cooked via shelves. Consequently, energy is wasted.